A bit out of the ordinary...

Chad Veich · **Posted:** Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:40 pm

...at least around these parts. Seen at Glendale airport in Glendale, AZ. Probably not too many A-7s parked in T-hangars around the country. Anybody know the details and the owner's intentions for this bird?

RickH · **Posted:** Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:57 pm

Chad, it looks like an old BDR airframe.

The new owner spirited it away from the Navy and he has been carefully hiding it until the heat was off. Too late now, looks like the secret is now out. NCIS probably won't go too hard on him. :oops:

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:26 am

RickH wrote:

Chad, it looks like an old BDR airframe.

:

I'd agree with that

mrhenniger · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:37 am

RickH wrote:

Chad, it looks like an old BDR airframe.

I don't know the terminology. What is "BDR"?

Mike

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:56 am

Battle Damage Repair, When it has to get fixed and you don't have the time to do a great job because it has to go back out and kill some more bad guys.

I think that was the way my Squadron worked everday when I was in it.

Swiss Mustangs · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 8:22 am

BDR ships are retired airframes used for "Battle Damage Repair" training - many bases have such "Hangar Queens" which usually either end up in fire dumps or scrapyards -

Martin

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Deer Valley, Az had in or around 2000, a couple of F-8 Crusaders parked in the open; they had been offered for sale, but I don't know what ever happened to them.

Again, somewhere, I have the photos of these.

Saludos,

Tulio

Chad Veich · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:21 pm

Tulio, I remember the Crusaders very well, along with all the other interesting stuff that came and went from Thunderbird Aviation over the years. I was present at a Luke AFB open house many years back in which one of the Crusaders put on an aerobatic demo. It still ranks among the best jet demos I've ever witnessed. I read somewhere about the fate of the Crusaders but I'm not sure of the details any more. I think they ended up with the same outfit that was offering the Blue Anges F-18 project some time ago. Here's a list of what I can recall seeing at the Thunderbird hangar over the years.

- Crusaders
- Douglas Destroyers
- OV-1 Mohawk
- T-33s
- Cessna T-37
- Mig-15
- On Mark Invader
- C-123 Provider (still at Deer Valley)

I'm sure there are others I've missed.

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Chad, driving around and managing to see all the interesting aircraft around Phoenix, was sure a thrill for me.

I recall a BAC-something (not the Strikemaster, but the trainer), a couple of L-29s, HU-16s, and of course, the F-8s.

Saludos!

Tulio

Broken-Wrench · **Joined:** Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:37 pm **Posts:** 1197

At least on Ebay you can buy the first 12 feet of one 4584070180
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Warbird- ... 0180QQrdZ1

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:34 pm

When I last had a school at NTC in San Diego. The Aviation Training Building had 2 A-7As and a T-34A (?) for fam training. I always wondered what happened to these aircraft. I'll dig out some pictures. The A-7s were well taken care off but the T-34 was just trash ie paint over bird cr*p!

Broken-Wrench · **Joined:** Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:37 pm **Posts:** 1197

Great lakes had 2 A-7's also. wonder what happened to them

'

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